Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF

mémoires, italiens ou étrangers,
accompagnent quelque 500 ouvrages
de toutes origines consacrés à Fellini
et à son œuvre. Le fonds comprend
aussi les originaux des partitions (plus
cahiers et notes) de Nino Rota, le
compositeur fétiche de Fellini.
Créée pour « conserver, mettre en
valeur et transmettre la mémoire
historique de Federico Fellini », la
Fondation organise également des
cycles de projections (pour les écoles
et le grand public), une rétrospective
estivale en plein air et un colloque
international, chaque mois d’octobre.
It is self-evident how valuable this material is, because of the
statements, often divergent, that Fellini used to make about his life
and work. In the same way, the TV reports on a new movie or a
prize received, have importance for those who wish to understand
the complete personality of the film-maker; the same is true for the
several documents filmed by those personalities who had a
continuous relationship or a real friendship with Fellini, such as
Sergio Zavoli, who captured some of the Maestro’s peculiarities
regarding his life and creativity.
Concerning the backstage shorts, they could be considered as
exceptional complements to the related movies, but also formidable
keys to understanding them fully, because they show the director at
work. Among those in the Archive, I would highlight at least Diario
segreto di Amarcord, shot by Fellini’s collaborators. Among the “secrets”
revealed by the film is Sandra Milo’s audition to play Gradisca. There is
also Verso la luna con Fellini, filmed with passion and ability by Eugenio
Cappuccio. And there is Ciao Federico, shot by Gideon Bachmann on the
set of Satyricon.
The same significance applies to the photographic heritage of the
Archive - two thousand photos and slides. Those taken on the movie
sets, during public events and, above all, those that were intended to be
part of a movie that was suppressed or never shot, obviously are of
particular importance. The “private” pictures depicting Fellini before his
artistic adventure, or when he was a child, with his relatives and
friends, have a peculiar relevance. The Fellini family, an organic part of
the Fondazione, has a large number of these kinds of pictures.
The family also owns a collection of drawings that has no equal, made
by Fellini from his primary to his secondary school years. From
childhood, Federico showed a great aptitude for drawing, illustrating
the compositions that the teacher assigned. The same aptitude was
even more clearly apparent during the secondary school years, when he
used to portray – with different techniques – actors and actresses. As
everybody knows, in those years Fellini used to do caricatures of movie
stars for the owner of the cinema Fulgor: today, eleven of those
caricatures are held by the Fondazione.
However, even in Rome drawing was his primary occupation. He
contributed to ’Aurelio’, the most widely distributed satirical magazine
of the time, and produced many vignettes, stories, etc. In the
Fondazione’s Archive there is a rich collection of the magazine, about
five hundred issues, from January 1939 until September 1943.
Even more relevant is the collection of drawings kept by the
Fondazione, which represents another expression of the artistic verve
that remained with Fellini during his entire life, up until his last days in
hospital. The collection is composed of about four hundred pieces,
realized with different techniques, created during the period of his
work as a director. About one hundred of them are related to his
movies, and for this reason they assume a greater philological value.
Fellini’s habit of giving instructions to his collaborators through his
drawings has already been mentioned. These plates have a great
importance even when the depicted spaces or situations are not in the
68 Journal of Film Preservation / 67 / 2004